 Jim Oberweis is a Chicago-area dairy magnate and twice ran for the Illinois Republican nomination for the United States Senate. Jim Oberweis, formally James D. Oberweis, is an Illinois politician, businessman and investment manager. He is most notable as a Chicago-area dairy magnate, owner of Oberweis Dairy in North Aurora, Illinois. Oberweis ran twice for the United States Senate for the Illinois Republican Party nomination in 2002 and 2004. Though he had the endorsement of Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, he was unsuccessful in both races. Due to his surprisingly strong second-place finish in the 2004 primary, many of the party faithful lobbied heavily for Oberweis to get the nomination when primary winner Jack Ryan dropped out due to a sex scandal. The path would have been clear if not for Oberweis' strong stance against illegal immigration-a stand supported by a clear majority of the American public. While his values and ads had won him huge support among his state party's base, others were outraged, and even picketed his business. The official story was the national party became concerned that they would cultivate an image of xenophobia at a time when President George W. Bush was heavily courting Latino voters. However, nearly half of Latino voters favored more restrictive immigration policies-and the GOP was dependent upon major donors that profited from liberal immigration policies so it is plausible there was a fundamentally different poltical calculation involved. Rumor had it that Bush himself called the IL GOP and asked them not to run Oberweis. As a result, the IL GOP chose a "safer" candidate, Alan Keyes, who went on to make a series of controversial remarks and lost by the biggest margin of any Senate nominee in the history of Illinois.
Education
Oberweis attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he obtained a bachelor of arts degree. He then went on to obtain a master's degree in business administration from the University of Chicago. In 1968, he became a junior high school teacher until he switched careers in 1970 to become an investment stockbroker.
Profession
Having served on for a major New York Stock Exchange firm, Oberweis founded and published the Oberweis Report newsletter whcih focused on emerging growth companies. Hulbert Financial Digest ranked the Oberweis Report as one of the top five investment advice newsletters. In 1978, Oberweis and his wife established an investment management company of their own. In 1986, they used their profits to purchase the family business, Oberweis Dairy. A year later, Oberweis founded the Oberweis Emerging Growth Fund which then spawned the Oberweis Micro-Cap Portfolio and the Oberweis Mid-Cap Portfolio.
Television
Oberweis became a financial news anchor and host of his own national cable show on the Financial News Network. In Chicago, Oberweis became a regular guest on the Ask an Expert show. Oberweis was also a popular guest on CNBC, CNN and Bloomberg TV.
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